Trib Lunch Box: IUPattys, state parks, 'Jeopardy!', Steel City Surge, 'American Rust'
Here are some noon headlines from TribLive, Monday, March 25, 2024:
• State parks, campgrounds prepare for influx of visitors during April 8 total solar eclipse
Taking in the total solar eclipse on April 8 at Pymatuning State Park is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and visitors are expected to flock to the Crawford County attraction for a chance to share in the excitement.
“Nobody that’s alive today is going to be alive for the next one, so I think that’s what’s driving this,” park manager Dan Bickel said of the upcoming eclipse path.
• Mike Tomlin on new Steelers quarterback Justin Fields
“He oozes talent and potential,” Tomlin said to kick off the second day of the NFL annual meetings. “He’s worn the responsibility of being a franchise quarterback. Still, he gets an opportunity to come into a community-like situation and gets to learn from a guy who has been doing it for over a decade. Man, there is a lot of meat left on that bone. I’m just excited about working to be a part of extracting it.”
Fields’ improvisational skills are such that he rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022, leading the NFL with 7.1 yards per attempt. He also showed inconsistency as a passer — he threw 40 touchdown passes and had 30 interceptions in three seasons — that the Bears decided to move on from Fields. They are expected to draft former USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick.
• Indiana community avoids major trouble during IUPatty’s as university curtails frat parties
The 2024 IUPatty’s weekend made it to Sunday morning without any major tumult or serious injuries being reported.
While Indiana University of Pennsylvania does not sanction the annual event, the university told its fraternities and sororities this year to pull the plug on any parties they were hosting by 6 p.m. Saturday.
“This is the first year we have asked them to have their parties ended by 6 p.m.,” said university spokesperson Michelle Fryling. “It’s a new procedure we asked them to follow. We looked at data from last year and some behaviors.
“We hold our students accountable.”
Fryling said similar measures have been enforced at other universities during occasions when large crowds are expected. “It’s not unique to IUP,” she said.
Yong Mitchell, as she now is known through marriage to a U.S. military serviceman, continues to give back to her sport through coaching at the scholastic and club levels.
Her daughter Sarah’s athletic talent in the sport was cultivated through her coaching dedication and influential love of volleyball.
“I wasn’t really pushed by my mother to play,” said Sarah Mitchell, 28, a Somerset native and West Virginia graduate living and working in Pittsburgh.
Now, as a member of the recently formed Steel City Surge semi-pro women’s volleyball program, Sarah continues to show that the competitive and talent apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
• Steelers agree with former Eagles receiver Quez Watkins on 1-year contract
Adding another veteran piece to their wide receiver group, the Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to a one-year contract with former Philadelphia Eagles pass catcher Quez Watkins on a one-year contract, according to a league source.
Watkins joins Van Jefferson as a wide receiver the Steelers have signed since they traded Diontae Johnson to Carolina earlier this month.
Watkins, 25, spent the past four seasons in Philadelphia, catching 98 passes for 1,249 yards and six touchdowns in 49 games that included 25 starts.
• TV Talk: Pittsburgher ‘The Chase’ star back on ‘Jeopardy!’ 20 years later
Victoria Groce of Point Breeze first competed on the daytime game show “Jeopardy!” in 2005, winning $23,801 over two episodes just before she moved to Pittsburgh, where her husband works at Carnegie Mellon as a software engineer. A native of Macon, Ga., Groce figured her “Jeopardy!” one-and-done would be it.
But the show’s producers invited Groce back for the current “Jeopardy!” Invitational Tournament after Groce starred on the third season of ABC’s prime-time game show, “The Chase,” in 2022 and 2023 (she was nicknamed “The Queen”). Groce competes in the “Jeopardy!” episode airing at 7:30 p.m. Friday on WPXI-TV.
• TV Talk: ‘American Rust’ season 2 set largely in Pittsburgh
For its second season, the filmed-in-Pittsburgh drama “American Rust” moves from Showtime to Amazon’s Prime Video. The show’s setting also shifts.
In its first season “American Rust” was set almost entirely in fictional Buell, Fayette County, but for the second season, the show splits its time between Buell and Pittsburgh, where former Buell police Chief Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) has rejoined the Pittsburgh Police Department.
Season one exhausted the story from the 2009 Philipp Meyer novel it was based on, necessitating that Rapp and Futterman create Season Two’s story on their own. Streaming all 10 episodes March 28 under the title “American Rust: Broken Justice,” Season Two moves at a much faster pace.
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